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Cornell University

CLASSE

CLASSE stands for Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based ScienceS and Education

Werner Sun

IT Director

My research has focused on the search for new subatomic phenomena beyond the Standard Model of particle physics using data collected with the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (CERN) and the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (Cornell University). I have pursued this fundamental question from multiple angles, including: performing direct searches for long-lived particles produced at the energy frontier, measuring strong phases and mixing parameters in neutral D mesons, conducting precision studies of D meson branching fractions, discovering rare decays of B mesons, and making theoretical determinations of CP-violating parameters in the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa unitarity triangle. In doing so, I have developed and applied new statistical and computational methods for extracting interesting physics signals from large, high-noise, high-background datasets.
 
Currently, as IT Director for the Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education (CLASSE), I am leading the design and implementation of scientific computing strategies, cyberinfrastructure, and training programs to lower the barriers to data-intensive research and to enable the sharing and collaborative reuse of scientific data. This work is applicable across scientific domains and research facilities, including at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). I also manage a team of system administrators and IT support personnel that is responsible for the business and research computing operations at CLASSE.
 
Outside of work, you can find me making art.
 

Educational Background

A.B., Physics, 1994, Harvard University. Ph.D. Physics, 2003, California Institute of Technology. Research Associate, Physics, Cornell University, 2003-2013. IT Director, CLASSE, Cornell University, 2013-present.

Selected Publications

  • Search for long-lived particles with displaced vertices in multijet events in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV, A. M. Sirunyan et al. (CMS Collaboration), Physical Review D 98, 092011 (2018), arXiv:1808.03078 [hep-ex], doi:10.1103/physrevd.98.092011.
  • Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC, CMS Collaboration, Physics Letters B 716, 30 (2012), doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2012.08.021.
  • Updated Measurement of the Strong Phase in D0 → K+π− Decay Using Quantum Correlations in e+e− → D0D0bar at CLEO, D. M. Asner et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review D 86, 112001 (2012), arXiv:1210.0939 [hep-ex], doi:10.1103/physrevd.86.112001.
  • Determination of the D0 → K+π− Relative Strong Phase Using Quantum-Correlated Measurements in e+e− → D0D0bar at CLEO, D. M. Asner et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review D 78, 012011 (2008), arXiv:0802.2268 [hep-ex], doi:10.1103/physrevd.78.012001.
  • Determination of the Strong Phase in D0 → K+π− Using Quantum-Correlated Measurements, J. L. Rosner et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review Letters 100, 221801 (2008), arXiv:0802.2264 [hep-ex], doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.221801.
  • Measurement of Absolute Hadronic Branching Fractions of D Mesons and e+e− → DDbar Cross Sections at the ψ(3770), S. Dobbs et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review D 76, 112011 (2007), arXiv:0709.3783 [hep- ex], doi:10.1103/physrevd.76.112001.
  • Time-Independent Measurements of D0-D0bar Mixing and Relative Strong Phases Using Quantum Correlations, D. M. Asner and W. M. Sun, Physical Review D 73, 034024 (2006), [Erratum-ibid. 77, 019901(E) (2008)] arXiv:hep-ph/0507238, doi:10.1103/physrevd.73.034024.
  • Simultaneous Least Squares Treatment of Statistical and Systematic Uncertainties, W. M. Sun, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 556, 325 (2006), arXiv:physics/0503050, doi:10.1016/j.nima.2005.10.030.
  • Measurement of Absolute Hadronic Branching Fractions of D Mesons and e+e− → DDbar Cross Sections at Ecm = 3773 MeV, Q. He et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review Letters 95, 121801 (2005), [Erratum-ibid. 96, 199903 (2006)] arXiv:hep-ex/0504003, doi:10.1103/physrevlett.95.121801.
  • Constraints on the CKM Angle γ from B → K∗±π∓, W. M. Sun, Physics Letters B 573, 115 (2003), arXiv:hep-ph/0307212, doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.08.046.
  • Measurement of the Charge Asymmetry in B → K∗(892)±π∓, B. I. Eisenstein et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review D 68, 017101 (2003), arXiv:hep- ex/0304036, doi:10.1103/physrevd.68.017101.
  • Observation of B → KS0π+π− and Evidence for B → K∗±π∓, E. Eckhart et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review Letters 89, 251801 (2002), arXiv:hep- ex/0206024, doi:10.1103/physrevlett.89.251801.
  • Search for a Scalar Bottom Quark with Mass 3.5–4.5 GeV/c2, V. Savinov et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review D 63, 051101 (R)(2001), arXiv:hep- ex/0010047, doi:10.1103/physrevd.63.051101.

Contact

wms8@cornell.edu
607-255-8666
106 East Modular Unit, Wilson Laboratory

CLASSE Associations

Research Areas

Materials Engineering